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Friday, 23 August 2013

Turtles and Tortoises

Now, I had promised monkeys, but then my youngest came up with these, all by herself, and I thought they'd be perfect for our homemade zoo.

All you need is an egg box scissors, paint, a black felt tip pen and some glue.

First, cut out a few egg box cups, then push up and round the bottoms (push in and round the corners if yours are a bit square like these ones) - so they end up looking more dome shaped.

Painting time next, and don't forget to splosh some on both sides of the egg box lid, or any other spare piece of cardboard (for legs and heads)

When dry, use a felt tip to draw a pattern on the shell, and after perusing pictures online, we added some yellow and brown spots too.

All the other bits can be cut out of the painted lid - just a thin strip snipped into four for the tortoise's legs and a rounded head with a long neck.

Use nail scissors to make a slot for the neck on one side (adult supervision). Keep the scissors closed, press down and twist gently from side to side. A ball of plasticine behind the card makes this easier. Widen the slot so your tortoise can retreat into its shell if things get too much...

For the turtle, make the legs more flipper or paddle like (draw and cut out one front and one back leg, then use these to draw the others)
Remember to make them extra long for sticking under the egg cup.

Glue the legs underneath, in the corners, and leave to dry upside down before bending into place.

We thought the penguin's pool might be a little on the chilly side for the turtles, so made them a more tropical one!